Lawyer presses Columbus police to change head-scarf ban

Two months after asking Columbus' mayor and police chief to reconsider the head-scarf ban for female Muslim police-officer candidates, a local lawyer is asking again for the city to re-evaluate its policy.

Frederick M. Gittes, who is also president of Protecting Ohio's Employees, a nonprofit group that promotes workplace diversity and fair-employment practices, recently sent another letter to Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Police Chief Kim Jacobs and Mayor-elect Andrew J. Ginther. Gittes said neither Coleman nor Jacobs responded to his letter sent in October.

"I never heard back from you, never received an acknowledgment," Gittes said on Wednesday, when he sent another letter. "I think this issue needs to be reconsidered and discussed." The new letter calls the ban "unwise, unnecessary and counterproductive."